


Powerless

by MaddieandChimney



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-15
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24727633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddieandChimney/pseuds/MaddieandChimney
Summary: After the plate smashes, and Maddie practically runs out of Chimney's apartment, she receives a phone call that leaves her breaking down.AU of Stalker!Maddie (aka pretend that never happened)
Relationships: Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14
Collections: Madney One-Shots





	Powerless

Chimney worries about Maddie all day. He can’t stop thinking about the look on her face when he touched her shoulder. How, even for a second, she was terrified. He tries to talk it out with Eddie, who has his own problems, he’s not sure how Buck would react to the thought of his big sister being triggered by something seemingly so small. And he struggles to get Hen alone for the rest of the day to be able to talk it through. It doesn’t help that Maddie has ignored his texts since.

He doesn’t recognise the phone number that comes up on his phone, but he answers it anyway, just in case. “Chimney?”

“Uh, yes?”

“Hi, it’s Josh – I work with Maddie.” The man is rushing his words, the sinking feeling in his stomach is almost immediate. There’s no reason any colleague or friend of Maddie’s would be ringing him unless something was really wrong. He doesn’t say anything, and the man on the other end of the phone continues, “Maddie… she had a rough call, I don’t really know if something else happened but-she needs someone to come pick her up. She was asking for you.”

He still has a few hours left of his shift, but he doesn’t care – if Maddie is asking for him, he’ll go without any hesitation. It only takes five minutes to confirm to Josh that he will be there as soon as he can, shouting something about a family emergency to Bobby (he doesn’t realise until the drive there that it must sound weird – when has he ever had a family emergency to attend to?), before he’s in his car and speeding towards the dispatch centre.

Right up until the moment he gets there, time seems to be moving slower – the ride in the elevator is painful, all he can think about is getting to Maddie and wrapping his arms around her. He should have pushed her, should have chased her before she left the building, he should have made sure she was okay before he let her clock into work. Josh meets him the moment he steps off the elevator, a look of relief on the other mans face, no time for niceties before he finds himself being rushed into a small office he’s never noticed before.

It feels like someone has punched him in the stomach when he sees her, head in her hands, the table wet with tears as a woman softly rubs her back. He can’t hear what is being said, but whatever it is, isn’t having any calming effect on the way her body is shaking. He knows what a panic attack looks like, he’s had enough in his own lifetime to recognise the way her shoulders keep tensing, the way her breathing hitches as her hands grip tightly in her own hair.

“Maddie?” He’s slightly scared, remembering the way she had looked at him that morning and then rushed out of the apartment without so much as a kiss goodbye. Even if she asked for him, he still doesn’t know if she wants him there, not truly.

“Take all the time you need.” The woman, a concerned look on her face, stands up, squeezing Chimney’s shoulder ever so gently as she walks past, shutting the door behind her. For the first time since that morning, it’s just the two of them and he tries not to doubt himself, tries not to think about it too much as he moves to kneel down on the floor next to her chair.

“Hey, baby, can you look at me? Just for a second.” He’s relieved when she obliges, her tear stained face looking down at him when she finally lets her arms drop to her side. “Is this about this morning? I wanted to talk to you about that…”

She shakes her head at first, and then nods her head as though she’s only just realised – perhaps if she hadn’t dropped the plate that morning, the call wouldn’t have had such a profound impact on her. “I-I c-couldn’t help her… she-she keeps phoning for help and I can’t… I-I can’t d-do…”

He takes the moment to stand up, piecing the puzzle together in his own mind, “Maddie, you know better than anyone that you can’t help someone who isn’t ready to accept that help yet.”

“She’s scared and she’s alone, and I-I just need her to know—”

“That’s not your place, Maddie. That’s not your place.” He hates how pale her skin looks, how much she’s shaking beneath his touch, how every breath she takes seems to be increasingly difficult. “I need you to breathe, okay? I’m worried you’re going to pass out if you carry on, so I need you to breathe with me, okay?”

It takes a few moments until she’s calm enough that he can relax ever so slightly, pulling her into his arms, his lips moving down to press against her hair. “Listen, I’m going to bring you back to mine, okay? And we’re going to talk. I need you to talk to me because… whatever happened this morning, I need you to open up. I need you to talk to me instead of running away, please?”

There’s a relief when she nods, and he slowly pulls back only to help her up, keeping an arm around her when she shifts on unsteady feet, “I-I called 911 so many times, no one could help me…”

“You helped yourself, though. You got away.”

“S-she c-called five t-times… a-and no one can help… I can’t do anything. I feel so p-powerless…” He knows the feeling all too well, he’s handed off so many patients to doctors only to hear they later died; it’s the most helpless feeling knowing it’s completely out of his hands.

“I know, baby, I know… we’ll get you home, okay? You can tell me everything that’s going on in that head of yours.”i 


End file.
